The headwear industry is becoming increasingly competitive. Particularly competitive is the segment of the industry that offers baseball-style caps.
Baseball-style caps have evolved from a product once worn primarily by persons participating in the playing of baseball to an every day product that is worn by persons worldwide: a) participating in athletic events; b) engaging in leisure activities; and c) at work. Baseball-style caps are desirable for their comfortable feel, functional features, and aesthetics.
Typically, baseball-style caps are made with lightweight materials that conform readily to different head configurations. A full crown configuration, as opposed to a visor, protects the top region of the user's head, while a brim/bill projects forwardly to shield the user's face from sunshine and the elements, such as rain, snow, etc.
The attraction of the baseball-style cap has spurred an industry that has appealed to a wide range of markets and individual tastes and preferences. These caps can be mass produced in a manner that makes them extremely affordable to any budget. At the same time, high-end caps can be offered to those with more exotic tastes.
Aside from the appeal that the caps offer to the end user, they also offer a valuable tool for promoting businesses, academic institutions, athletic teams, etc. Academic institutions have capitalized on the baseball-style cap as a money generating product that promotes support of the institution and its various programs. These products are made available not only on campuses but geographically over a wide range and at a multitude of different stores.
The objective of modern day designers of baseball-style caps is to offer products that are innovative and capture the attention of an audience that has already been exposed to a multitude of different ornamentation. The industry seeks to generate new interest in products in an industry that is saturated with many permutations of products offered by a multitude of different manufacturers.
One design focus, primarily for the promotion of sports team and academic institutions, is to innovatively use colors that represent the team/institution. The industry continues to seek out creative ways to capitalize on the recognition of these identifying colors in marketing goods for the particular team/institution using the colors in novel patterns and arrangements.